In this issue September's theme: Labor and work - Illinois Great ...

Recommendations

Info

Page 20 Illinois Great Rivers Conference — The Current September 2010 Embracing Communication & Technology Dates needed for 2011 IGRC program calendar Groups, committees, task forces and other conference entities that wish to have their events included in the 2011 IGRC Program Calendar are asked to submit those events by Thursday, Sept. 30. Due to rising production costs, the 2011 Program calendar will not be printed this year but will be available for download for anyone free of charge. Persons can download the PDF and print the pages they desire. The PDF calendar will not be updated throughout the year so any changes will only be updated on the conference calendar, located at www.igrc.org/ events/calendar The submitted events will be included on the calendar and will also be posted on the Conference Calendar online at www.igrc.org. Groups are reminded that as their meetings change, please contact the Communications Team and changes will be made to the online calendar. Also, please include the location of the meeting, the starting and end time and any costs associated with the event. The Communications Team can also set up online registration for events with the only cost being what is charged by Paypal for processing credit card sales. Events can be submitted to Michele Willson at mwillson@igrc.org M2LIVE Conference to be held at Garrett Church leaders or volunteers interested in learning to develop an effective social media strategy, create a more appealing and usable church website or would like to grow ministry using web technology are invited to participate in M2Live Chicago Oct. 8-9 at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. Online registration is available at: www.m2live.org M2LIVE training events feature insight from many of today’s brightest church web evangelists. Kem Meyer, Communications Director at Granger Community Church, will be one of the event speakers. Meyer leads creative, information and technology teams to champion a clear, cohesive and unified experience across departments and campuses. Her book, Less Clutter. Less Noise. provides simple insights to the not-so-simple art of communication to help churches, businesses and not-for-profits find ways to get the word out and, simply, do better. A new look for a new time New format for The Current completes a four-year journey Paul Black By Paul Black Director of Communication Ministries This issue of The Current is a milestone on a number of fronts. First, the September issue begins the 15th year of publication since the former Central Illinois Conference’s edition of The United Methodist Reporter and the former Southern Illinois Conference’s Connexion merged into a single publication aimed at providing news and information to the newly-formed Illinois Great Rivers Conference. Under the very capable leadership of Bettie Story and Rev. Paul Widicus, The Current became a valuable part of the conference’s communication system in providing timely, informative and fact-filled stories about the conference and its member churches while still keeping an eye on telling the larger story of the national and global church as well. Our commitment has not wavered from those beginning steps as a new conference. However, times have changed and how people get their news and information continues to be in a state of flux and our latest move is in keeping with the times in which we live. Beginning in August 2006, the conference’s communication system was heavily invested in print media. In fact, $1 of every $2 of the operational part of the communications budget was spent producing a newspaper every two weeks. At that time, news stories and information were held until it was first published in the newspaper. If the item was breaking news, then it might have been published on the conference List Serv, a large email mailing list. The communications team also needed to find a way to expand its video ministry. Nursery Continued from page 17 nursery which might be easily overlooked. The church nursery is a model of God’s grace. As United Methodists, we are heirs of the spiritual heritage of John Wesley, who said that we experience God’s grace in several different ways. The first of these is prevenient grace, which Wesley defined as God’s grace active in our lives before we are even aware of it. Prevenient grace is not dependent on anything we do. Through prevenient grace, God reaches out to us and gives us the capacity to respond in faith. Prevenient grace is God’s love freely offered to us with no strings attached. We can do nothing to earn God’s grace, and nothing Beginning with video stories at the 1999 annual conference, this ministry, under the volunteer leadership of Rev. Bruce Weiman, continued to grow and demand for production of in-house video increased exponentially. So as our audience begin to ask for a more diversified communications product without spending significantly more money, we began turning the ship in August 2006. With the assistance of the U.S. Postal Service’s change in Second Class bulkrate rules, we made the decision to go to a monthly newspaper . The Postal Service’s rule change resulted in a 10 percent surcharge for mailing the newspaper for sorting our printer previously did at no charge. Realizing that such a move would leave a vacuum in the information flow, we opted to start publishing news in real time, posting it on the web as it was occurring. In order to bolster the new news cycle of web first, then newspaper, we began publishing a weekly e-newsletter, The Current Week in Review. More than 2,000 readers now subscribe to the e-newsletter. Other ministries and some of the districts have also discovered the value of e-newsletters as more than 20 different publications are now produced from IGRC ministries on a monthly basis. Our savings from this shift was just over $40,000. Our additional expense for the e-newsletter service was less than $1,000, meaning 10 percent of our communications budget and 40 percent of our operations budget could now be reallocated for the much-needed video ministry and the emerging web technologies needed to keep the IGRC on the cutting edge. In mid-May, we launched another major improvement to our system when, collaborating with Brick Rivers Technology in Exeter, N.H., we unveiled the new IGRC website. Replacing a website and system that resembled a patchwork quilt, the new site has provided an integration of we do could ever repay God for this priceless gift. In the church nursery, we model God’s prevenient grace by offering care to infants and young children who do nothing to earn it and have no capacity to give us anything in return except smiles, giggles, and hugs. These little ones cannot yet use their gifts to serve in the church. They cannot yet support the church financially. In fact, they cost the church money for nursery toys and supplies! Yet the church counts it as a privilege to welcome and care for these beloved children of God. Partnering with God to extend grace through the church nursery equips us and challenges us to reach out to others in the same way. Do we welcome others to our church who do not seem particularly de- online event registration, posting of audio and video files with new features such as volunteer mission opportunities, an area where churches can share how something worked for them (It Worked for Us), a clergy locator and a church locator. Navigation has been simplified and made more redundant, so that visitors can find what they are looking for from a number of different ways. The result has been a significant spike in website traffic. The last vestige of the old system was the newspaper format of The Current. As the news cycle had made much of The Current less timely and more a means of providing a single place where folks can get their information, we asked ourselves, “Is there a better format for sharing this information than a newspaper?” As we thought, we realized that in many ways, The Current still had a role to play in providing a digest of news and information but not in a timely manner. This is the role that magazines still play in the mass media market. So we started developing a redesign where we will retain the newsprint for cost effectiveness but the focus and type of stories will be more features and less timesensitive information. Employing a strategy used by many newspapers, the monthly cover story will be a “First in Print” story that will only be published to the website after its print publication. Such a strategy, however, relies upon our readers. We invite you to tell your story. As you can tell from this issue, we have an abundance of stories that have come in through the summer hiatus. But we envision with your help, our stories are infinitely many and we want to tell them. We may not be able to use all of them but please know it is our desire to continue to tell your story and corporately, our story, even as the ship takes us new places on the journey. serving of grace? Do we count it a privilege to love them and help them to grow, even if they cannot yet support the ministries of the church financially or through the use of their spiritual gifts? Whether they are children, youth, or adults, do we see them as beloved children of God? For more information about the church nursery as a model of God’s grace, including scripture references, material for training church nursery volunteers, and suggestions on celebrating infant baptism and supporting spiritual development of children in the home, see The Most Important Space in the Church: The Nursery by Rita B. Hays (Discipleship Resources, 2009; available through Cokesbury). This book is also available through the UMRC. Contact Jill Stone, 217-529-2744 or umrc@igrc.org.
Photo courtesy of Paige Roberts September 2010 Illinois Great Rivers Conference — The Current Page 21 Conference News Cunningham Home celebrates 115 years of service URBANA – Cunningham Children’s Home alumni representing every decade from the 1930’s to the early 2000’s came home to reminisce and reconnect on July 25, 2010. In celebration of the Home’s 115th Anniversary, Cunningham opened its campus to more than 300 former residents, staff, and guests. Visitors were invited to tour the schools, cottages, recreational facility, and most other buildings. The Heritage Room was filled with photo albums for alumni to sift through memories of the past. Generations of families crowded around photo albums laughing and sharing their loved ones’ stories of ‘old times.’ Donald Kimmel (1950’s resident) commented, “I have many fond memories of my time at ‘The Home’ as we called it. I have always felt that without the guidance and religious training I received that I would not have become the person that I am today.” Alumni were greeted with love by By Paige Roberts EIU Wesley Foundation CHARLESTON – What do you get when you combine one university, one volunteers, staff, and guests alike. Every former resident was invited to receive a Cunningham quilt lovingly made by the United Methodist Women; a gift that serves as a reminder of the love, compassion, and support that is forever theirs as a member of the Cunningham family. One former Cunningham resident expressed her thanks saying, “Thank you for the quilt. The ladies of the [United Methodist] church worked hard to make them. Please be sure to thank them.” Bishop Gregory Palmer’s inspiring and dynamic message at the 115th Anniversary Celebration Service touched the hearts of all as he honored the faith and stewardship of the United Methodist Women and the courage of Cunningham youth. At the conclusion of the service, Chaplain Gay King Crede invited all current and former students and residents of Cunningham to come forward. Watching generations of the Cunningham family gather together became an awe-filled ex- campus ministry, seven generous churches, and 150 new college freshmen? The answer is 200 health kits and 35 flood buckets for the Midwest Mission Distribution Center. Bishop Gregory V. Palmer visits with Kaskaskia River District Superintedent, Rev. Cynthia Jones at the 115 th anniversary celebration of Cunningham Home. Rev. Jones’ spouse, the Rev. Dr. E. Michael Jones is a former Cunningham Home chaplain. perience as the audience stood and applauded the lives of individuals that have been directly impacted by Cunningham On Aug. 21, about 3,000 freshmen and transfer students at Eastern Illinois University participated in a morning of service called Jumpstart to G.I.V.E. (getting involved in volunteer efforts). The Wesley Foundation campus ministry was asked to arrange two service projects for 150 of these students. Rev. Paige Roberts, the campus minister, organized the making of health kits and flood buckets for the MMDC. This project offered a unique opportunity to share about the Wesley Foundation, MMDC, and The United Methodist Church with the freshmen, while also providing needed materials. The University provided the funds to make the health kits, but didn’t have the budget for the flood buckets. This is where the churches came in. Roberts sent out a letter to area churches, asking if they would donate in order for the new students to make flood buckets. Donations were received from Paris First, Paris First UMW, Kirk Chapel, Windsor, Falmouth, Paris Otterbein, Charleston Wesley, and Arcola United Methodist churches, and several individuals. On that Saturday, 150 freshmen and Children’s Home, a mission of the IGRC United Methodist Women. Eastern Illinois University students Jumpstart to GIVE Students at Eastern Illinois University assemble flood buckets for the Midwest Mission Distribution Center as part of the school’s Jumpstart to GIVE program. Need – and help – have increased at food pantry URBANA – The monthly food pantry at Wesley United Methodist Church served more than twice as many shoppers in 2009 as 2008. The numbers increased from 5,281 to 11,393. Fortunately, the pantry also was able to increase its volunteers from about 100 to more than 600 and its donations and grants from almost $22,000 to almost $80,000. The Eastern Illinois Food Bank supplies most of the food. The Wesley pantry is open the third Thursday of each month. On pantry days, new clients fill out forms and wait in the church’s Great Hall. Forms ask if would-be shoppers fall below 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines and require a name, address and number of people in a household. Clients may draw numbers for shopping times starting at 3:30 p.m. Numbers are issued at random so a late arrival does not necessarily mean a late shopping time slot. The pantry itself opens at 5 p.m. If someone draws a high number that delays his shopping until late, he can fill out a request for a pre-pack. The basic groceries available that day are then packed by a volunteer for quick pickup. Volunteers are needed the previous Tuesdays and Wednesdays for setup and Thursday for distribution. Some volunteer jobs require training. transfer students came into the vending lounge of the MLK Union at EIU, ready to work. Roberts first invited the students to imagine that their most precious possessions were lost, and then to imagine someone giving them a small bit of hope. Next, Mark Freeman, warehouse manager for the Midwest Mission Distribution Center, shared about the ministry of the MMDC and the many people it serves. After about an hour of “controlled chaos” (with lots of help from Mark), the kits and buckets were completed and loaded into the MMDC van. Roberts then led students in a time of reflection where they had a chance to share about the experience. Several students shared stories of people in their own lives affected by natural disasters. Some students shared about their own homes being flooded; others had family in Haiti affected by the earthquake; yet another had family in Jamaica affected by a hurricane. As student Erin Wise shared, “Early in the morning, we weren’t too excited to be here – we would have rather been sleeping. But by the end we could see the value of what we were doing and how we were helping people around the world.” See related story “Pantry volunteers take time to learn Spanish” on page 18. Details for volunteers are at www.wesleypantry.org/volunteer-sign-up.Information also is available via e-mail at volunteer@wesleypantry.org or 615-8631. Photo courtesy of Cunningham Children’s Home
Page 1 and 2: C www.igrc.org urrent News of Illin
Page 3 and 4: September 2010 Illinois Great River
Page 7 and 8: Photo by Ken Trevarthan, Mattoon Jo
Page 11 and 12: Photo by Stephen Haas, Decatur Hera
Page 13 and 14: Photo courtesy of JDena Hopkins Pho
Page 17 and 18: Photo by istockphoto.com September
Page 19: Photos courtesy of Pat Wright, Midw
Page 25 and 26: September, 2010 Illinois Great Rive

In this issue September's theme: Labor and work - Illinois Great ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?